Sarah Nickerson has it all: the high-flying career, the loving family, the second home. But between excelling at work; shuttling the kids to football, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son’s teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it’s a wonder this over-scheduled over-achiever has time to breathe.

Sarah manages every minute of her life like an air traffic controller, until one fateful day, while driving to work, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, her chaotic life comes to a screeching halt. A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of her world. For once, Sarah must relinquish control to those around her, including her formerly absent mother. As she wills herself to heal, Sarah must learn that a happiness greater than all the success in the world is close within reach, if only she slows down long enough to notice.

An insightful and sometimes frustrating look into the effects of a brain injury on both patient and family.

Sarah Nickerson is a high powered wife and mother. Every minute is scheduled. Double booked even. No rest for the wicked and all that. Make all the monies. You know. Long days, minimal sleep, the last time she had an afternoon of rest and relaxation was…. never. Firstly, let me just say – not my kinda life. I could maybe uphold that for… 3 weeks? A month? That aside, after Sarah has a car accident, she winds up with left neglect. Which effectively means that she forgets her whole left side exists.

We follow Sarah as she struggles to come to terms with her new normal, and at the same time her son is struggling with how to manage his ADD. Her life has changed dramatically, and as much as she works and pushes her rehab, there comes a point where she just isn’t going to get any better. Then comes the mental struggle. Chuck her mother in the mix and you’ve found Sarah’s hell.

I really enjoyed Left Neglected, seeing Sarah improve, and deal with her mental struggles – like if she keeps forgetting she has a left leg, how is she ever going to ski again?

Lisa Genova has a PhD in Neuroscience, and as a nurse who has worked in neurology I find her books fascinating. Still Alice explores Alzheimers, and her newest book Love Anthony looks into autism. All of these are written about in a fascinating, tactful, engaging manner. Her writing is easy to read, and for me un-put-down-able. She explores difficult and complicated topics in an easy to read and easy to understand manner.

A: Almost Flawless!

Absolutely. Not too heavy on the medical, but just enough so you understand what’s going on. If you enjoy ‘journey’ books, this one’s for you!

Have you read Left Neglected? Have you read any of Lisa Genova’s other books? Let me know what you think in the comments!

My third and final challenge for 2014 is the TBR Pile Reading Challenge, hosted here at Bookish!

RULES!

This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2014 – Dec 31, 2014.

Anyone can enter! You don’t have to be a blogger, as long as you review the book you’ve read! (For me: either on my blog or Goodreads)

Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that’s been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Short stories and novellas are OK, too! Only books released in 2013 and earlier!

You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.

When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge.

You can move up levels, but no moving down.

Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2014, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

On the 20th of each month we will post a wrap-up post, on BOOKISH. Every wrap-up will have it’s unique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It’s open to INTERNATIONALS. The giveaway will be open until the next wrap up post goes up! (i.e. the entire month)

If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice – we will be checking 😉

December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you’ll link up in December will be entered into a GRAND PRIZE giveaway.

You don’t have to follow Bookish Blog to join the challenge, but you do have to follow us to be entered in giveaways!

I’m going for Sweet Summer Fling at 31-40 books

The challenge for me is not so much reading all the books listed below, but ensuring I review them! Some (probably many) of these reviews will be on Goodreads, but I’m going to try my hardest to post them here too!

So just a quick post to say I’ve been in a bit of a blogging slump, and I’ve let life give me an excuse not to post. So clearly I needed a bit of a holiday away from blogging to give me a little perspective, do some research (IE read others’ blogs), get some ideas and make a plan.

I have been reading lots, keeping up with other blogs, and have been doing some commenting on discussion posts, which I plan to keep up and increase on next year.

I just wanted to say I plan to get back into it with gusto in the new year – I have some things planned to help me on the way 🙂 So thanks to those who’ve stuck around, I promise I’ll get back into it soon!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year to you all too.

So I will remember standing in the fresh-cut grass with the black-clad figures surrounded by stone until I do it for real. I will remember the funeral until it happens – until someone dies.

And after that, it will be forgotten.

Here’s the thing about me; I can see my future, but my past is blank.

I see the future in flashes, like memories. I remember what I’ll wear tomorrow, and a car crash that won’t happen til this afternoon. But yesterday has evaporated from my mind – just like the boy I love, I can’t see him in my future. I can’t remember him from my past. But today, I love him. And I never want to forget how much.

I totally wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as I did. I didn’t want it to end! I’m relatively new to young adult fiction (other than when I was in my early teens), and I’m pretty selective about what I read. This was a total winner!

I loved the ‘remember the future, forget the past’ idea, but was concerned that it wouldn’t be well written. Cat Patrick did an amazing job. I didn’t want the book to end – and to add insult to injury, I opened the second Cat Patrick book I had (Revived) and realised it wasn’t a sequel! Yeah, I didn’t research that one too well.

London Lane remembers days and years to come, but doesn’t know what happened yesterday. She writes things down, but things are starting to happen that she doesn’t remember. Like Luke. For some reason he’s completely new to her every day. So she writes herself more and more notes so she can remember him. Then she remembers a funeral… and starts to piece things together. Is this why she doesn’t remember him?

I haven’t described this very well – this is why Cat Patrick is the author of this amazing book and I’m not! I found this book really easy to read, very difficult to put down, and really well written. My only complaint was that it wasn’t long enough.

An original plot brilliantly executed with likable, relatable, believable characters.

Absolutely! A fun light read, a great way to pass a lazy afternoon or train trip.

Sent to investigate the disappearance of two little girls Camille finds herself reluctantly installed in the family mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and a precocious thirteen-year-old half-sister she barely knows. Haunted by a family tragedy, troubled by the disquieting grip her young sister has on the town, Camille struggles with a familiar need to be accepted.

But as clues turn into dead ends Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims and releases: she will have to unravel the puzzle of her own past if she’s to survive this homecoming.

MY THOUGHTS

This one was written pre-Gone Girl, and I have to say, Flynn does not disappoint. Camille has returned to Wind Gap as a journalist, to write about the disappearance and murder of a little girl – reminiscent of what happened to her sister. This brings up many bad memories, that Camille has worked years to get over. She is covered in scars from self harm, that begin to burn and itch more the longer she is home.

Now, I have to say if you have history with self harm or family related issues, this may not be the book for you. It’s quite dark and touches on issues that are not altogether healthy.

I, however, found it hard to put down, intriguing and kinda like a car crash – just too hard to look away. I had to know what happens next. As with Gone Girl, there’s a few red herrings thrown in there, and I didn’t pick the outcome definitively. For me it was one of numerous possibilities, but still threw me at the end. Flynn’s mind is just bananas. I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff. But still. Very well written, inescapable, Maybe I’m disturbed, but I enjoyed it!

RECOMMEND?

If you enjoy a touch of the creepy? This goes beyond a touch. Way beyond.